Page 15 of An Overdue Match
Tai paused. He liked her name. It fit her. But it was also a mouthful. He couldn’t imagine it had never been shortened before. “No one?”
“No one.” She said the two words with finality.
Well, that settled that. Everyone needed a nickname at some point in their life. “I can’t say I’ve ever been called a no one before, but today’s as good a day as any.”
While her lips pressed into a firm line, his curved even more. “But if you’re going to get your first nickname, maybe we should ease into it a bit more. Something a little closer to what’s on your birth certificate.”
She sputtered. “Mr. Davis, I hardly think—”
“Tai, if you please. Even southern manners will allow you to use my first name.” He plowed on when she opened her mouth to protest, tapping his chin as if giving his words a great deal of thought. “Now, see, Tai can’t really be shortened since it’s already one syllable—”
She mumbled something under her breath.
“What was that?”
She sighed. “I just said, it could be shortened to the first letter of your name. People could call youT.”
“Now you’re getting it.” He grinned at her in encouragement, then had to bite the tip of his tongue to keep from laughing when she rolled her eyes. “But back to you. You have a name that is practically begging to be shortened.”
Her gaze skittered away for a brief moment. “My mother gave me the name Evangeline.”
“Well, I didn’t think it was bestowed upon you by Rumpelstiltskin.”
She let out a disgruntled sound at the back of her throat.
Which he ignored. “We’ve established no one has given you a nickname. We’ve established I am no one. We’ve establishedwhat your mother calls you. What we haven’t established is whatIwill call you.”
“Mr. Davis—”
“You know, the more you say my name that way, the more I like it.” Tai let his voice take on a husky, seductive tone.
Evangeline’s face mottled.
Tai swallowed his laugh.
“Tai—”
“That’s good too,” he practically purred. He had no idea where this flirtatious nonsense was coming from, and he was sure his mom would box his ears if she overheard how he was behaving at the moment, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He was quickly becoming addicted to seeing the effect he had on the woman. “My name on your lips is like hearing it for the very first time.”
Evangeline blinked at him, her mouth agape.
He winked at her for good measure. “But back to the topic at hand. A nickname for you.” He studied her.
She studied him right back, an almost-challenge in her eyes. It was probably only manners that kept her from turning on her heel and storming off. But whatever kept her standing in front of him, he was enjoying every minute of their exchange.
After another moment, the perfect name came to him. The muscles in his face softened. “Angel,” he breathed. “Because I can’t imagine anything in heaven could be lovelier than you.”
She flushed and looked away. “While this has been highly ... enlightening, I must be going.” She rushed past him, her head down, cheeks pink, and muttering to herself in a low but strident tone.
He watched her go with a grin, then turned back to the dugout, only just remembering he’d never asked her what in the world she was doing with those library check-out histories in the first place.
8
If I’d had a question before as to what casting category Tai fell under, our conversation at the baseball field cleared that up. The man is reprehensible. Incorrigible. He is absolutely without shame.
My cheeks heat just thinking about the things he’d said. The way he’d said them. How his eyes had lingered. Studied. Probed. I’d felt almost naked under that gaze and had fingered the collar of my shirt to assure myself that, yes, I was in fact fully clothed.
I shake my head. Tai Davis is nothing more than an insatiable flirt. An unequivocal rake.
